Mura Masa at Pohoda 2019
The recent Grammy award winning producer and multi-instrumentalist mura masa is going to perform at Pohoda 2019. According to last.fm, he “showcases his minimalist, yet effective approach to UK trap music by combining the energy of electronic production and club culture with the rustic and organic sounds and timbres of traditional sample beatmaking”. Guernsey-born producer is the only artist who was nominated for Grammy Awards as the author of the music and art director of the recording package in the same year (debut Mura Masa). After its release, his hit “Lovesick” reached number 1 on the Spotify Viral charts both in the UK and the US. Its newer version featuring A$AP Rocky has been streamed almost 200 million times on this service. In summer, he’s headlining Forbidden Fruit, Ireland, as well as BBC Radio 1 stage at Leeds Festival and will introduce visitors to his music at Pohoda’s 23rd edition, too.
06. March 2019
Alex Crossan (Mura Masa) was born and raised on the small island of Guernsey in the English Channel. After playing guitar, bass, drums, piano and singing in local punk, hardcore, deathcore and gospel bands as a teenager, he discovered Ableton and began making a mix of trap and tropical house flavored with funk. Influenced by the likes of Hudson Mohawke or James Blake, he soon became a success on the electronic scene. His influences also include SBTRKT, Gorillaz and The Smiths. At 17, he uploaded his first tracks and remixes online and his songs soon got picked up by BBC Radio 1and the likes of Zane Lowe, Annie Mac or Huw Stephens. In 2014 (at 18), he recorded a mixtape Soundtrack to a Deathand, six months later, his debut EP Someday Somewherewhose lead track “Firefly” was chosen for the In New Music We Trust playlist at BBC Radio 1. His track “Lovesick” was even more successful when it reached number 1 on the Spotify Viral charts in the United Kingdom and the United States. The debut was released via his own label Anchor Point and distributed by Polydor Records in the UK and Interscope Records in North America.
Therefore, Mura Masa was one of the most exciting acts to see at Eurosonic 2016 and caught our attention, too (at the same time, he was the most recommended artist from the ESNS 2016 lineup by our Facebook fans). Due to a long queue, we did not make it to his show at Simplon Club, though. A year after its release, he made a newer version of his hit “Lovesick”named “Love$ick” featuring A$AP Rocky. To this day, the track has been streamed more than 200 million times on Spotify. Mura Masa has other collabs with famous artists under his belt, too: He collaborated with Stormzy on song “First Things First”; with Charli XCX on “1 night”, with Christine and the Queens on “Second 2 None”and his track “Firefly” features singer-songwriter Nao. His collaboration with rapper slowthaion song “Doorman”is also interesting. His song “Blu”features one of Mura Masa’s teenage role models, Damon Albarn. The song won the “Best Live Session” category in the 2017 UK Music Video Awards. Just a few weeks back, he received a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical” for Haim’s “Walking Away”remix.
In 2017, he released an eponymous debut album Mura Masawith many renowned media saying it had a bright future ahead of it. The album was listed in Drowned in Soundor NME’s Best Albums of 2017. In The Skinnyreview, the album scored 5 stars and according to the magazine, his music proves that “not all pop is manufactured, or made by men in suits with dollar signs in their eyes – sometimes an artist knows what makes a track wriggle into your brain and stay there for days.” According to Mixmag, “this is what pop should be in 2017: diverse, interesting and surprising”. Mura Masa will deliver a varied mix of genres, synthetic as well as acoustic sounds and moods ranging from euphoria to dreamy melancholy skillfully blended into catchy tracks at Pohoda 2019.